Douglas County Association for Gifted and Talented (DCAGT) is a non-profit group of parents, educators and community leaders that supports the educational and emotional needs of gifted and advanced learners in Douglas County. We are an affiliate of the Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented (CAGT). Our mission is to foster an understanding of all gifted children and their exceptional needs and to support and promote the gifted community of Douglas County.

April 29, 2015

What is Executive Function?

Executive Function is the set of mental skills that work together to manage how we think, including working memory, task flexibility and problem-solving. Most of these skills are organized in the frontal lobes of our brains (Wikipedia).

Sometimes gifted children may have some difficulties developing the ability to retain and organize information and these are frequently misdiagnosed as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD), a learning disorder or both. Here are some resources to help you learn more executive function and approaches to help resolve executive function issues.

Websites

Seth Perler’s Executive Function Cheat Sheet. A former teacher now turned educational consultant, Seth helps students and adults address executive function issues. He has struggled with executive function issues himself and his recommendations are based on how he learned to overcome it and what has worked with his students. Based in Boulder.

Book Lists

Cognitive Connections Resource List.
A team of two speech and language pathologists who specialize in treating cognitive and speech-language issues put together this book list on executive function. Based in Massachusetts.

Gifted and Talented Organizations

About

Douglas County Association for Gifted and Talented is a volunteer organization supporting gifted education in Douglas County, Colorado. We are an affiliate of the Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented.